Kleiner Perkins's John Doerr And Ellen Pao: A Mentorship Sours

Throughout the years in which former Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers partner Ellen Pao clashed with her colleagues, one man had her back: general partner and billionaire venture capitalist John Doerr. But between 2005, when she was hired on "Team JD" as his chief of staff, and 2012, when she sued the firm, his support for her eventually turned.

Throughout the high-profile trial, now in its second week, Pao's attorneys are trying to show that she faced gender discrimination and retaliation while at Kleiner, one of the most respected venture capital firms in Silicon Valley. Doerr will return to the witness stand Wednesday following a full day of testimony on Tuesday spent outlining Pao's path at the firm.

On Tuesday, Kleiner's attorney, Lynne Hermle of Orrick, sought to show the jury that Doerr did all he could for Pao, moving efficiently through email after email in which Doerr offers feedback on how she could improve in her relationships with other people at the firm. The ones shown suggested a warm relationship, even when discussing critical feedback. Doerr signed one email coaching her about public speaking, "Coach JD."

Doerr also said that the firm was a place where he had pushed to recruit, retain and promote women, and that it was not a firm "run by men" -- something he allegedly told Stephen Hirschfeld, the independent investigator the firm hired to look into possible gender discrimination. Doerr denied that he said that, though women partners are a minority. "We've had many female partners," he told the court. "It's a partnership. Nobody really runs a partnership."

Throughout the day, Doerr came across as Pao's lone supporter among upper-level partners at the firm. When
Google Ventures approached Kleiner Perkins in 2009 about recruiting Pao for a job, Doerr wanted the company to come out with a statement of firm support, saying they would push to keep her, though he also thought she would be a bigger fish in a smaller pond at Google.

Doerr had also pushed to fire Ajit Nazre in 2007 after Pao told him about her and Nazre's affair. Nazre was married with children at the time, and Pao says he lied to her about being separated from his wife. When she told Doerr about the affair after it was over, she said they could move past it and work together professionally. Doerr wanted him fired, but Pao asked that he not be punished, and eventually Nazre stayed, though his bonus that year was docked. Doerr said that "the biggest punishment was I told him I’d lost confidence in his ability to lead the firm."

It's around the same time that Pao sent Doerr an email that ended with, "It’s a real honor to be thought of as a surrogate daughter, and I’m sorry if I sometimes don’t live up to the honor.” But when Exelrod asked Doerr if he recalled the two of them discussing their relationship as surrogate father-daughter-like, Doerr rubbed his forehead and said he did not recall. It highlighted what looked like a tense situation between a former mentor and protegé now confronting each other in a courtroom full of keyboard-clacking reporters.

Doerr also did not deny one of the plaintiff's allegations that he suggested partner Randy Komisar take the board seat at
RPX instead of Pao, who had sourced the investment, because Komisar "needed a win." Doerr said that he told Pao her role was to support the other partners, but also admitted he thought Komisar could use the ego boost.

“Randy needed a win. Kleiner needed a win. I could use some wins,” Doerr said.

By 2011, Doerr's support for Pao put him increasingly at odds with the rest of the partnership at Kleiner Perkins, who he said found working with her difficult. That disagreement was shown clearly in a 2011 performance review where almost all the partners suggested Pao was not doing well at the firm.

“Do you recall that Mr. Schlein wanted to put a statement in Ms. Pao’s performance evaluation saying that she wasn’t being successful as a Kleiner Perkins partner and that she should think about moving on?” Exlerod asked. Doerr replied, “Mr. Schlein and all the other digital partners felt that way, except me. I saw it differently.”

By the time Pao filed the $16 million discrimination lawsuit against Kleiner in 2012, the gloves were off. Doerr posted a statement on Kleiner Perkins's blog that was widely picked up in the press, vigorously denying the suit's allegations. Pao's attorney Alan Exelrod tried to show that Doerr had made the statement without having read the actual report that the independent investigator had completed, which apparently said there was no finding of gender discrimination at the firm.

Pao was put on a "performance improvement plan" soon after she filed the lawsuit, but despite the intervention, the firm said her work had not improved and she was let go as part of a company downsizing. By then, no one was in her corner.

"And you agreed with the conclusions of Mr. Schlein and Mr. Murphy that (Pao) should be terminated," Exelrod said to Doerr.